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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Charlie Banana XS Review

One of the newer kids on the cloth diapering block is Charlie Banana! This brand has become a favorite for many mamas and I myself own a few of these! Of course, when building my newborn stash, I had to grab some of these to try out on my itty bitty! The Charlie Banana line is very similar to the Fuzzibunz line, so I will compare a lot of the features to the Fuzzibunz. If you would like to read more about my initial findings with cloth diapering a skinny baby and our rocky start to cloth diapering Baby J, please see the Intro posthere.Fits: 5-10 pounds

Price Per Diaper: (3/5 Stars) This diaper retails for $16.88 for solid colors and $17.25 for prints. This is an average price for most newborn pocket diapers and AIO diapers so it all depends on what features you want. I do feel that Charlie Banana diapers are a great quality diaper so you are definitely getting a good diaper for that price!Leaks: (3/5 Stars) It is hard to rate this diaper for leaks. Had this diaper fit my son well, it probably would have been leak free! But alas, but skinny boy caused trouble in this diaper too! This diaper is a pocket diaper with a front pocket opening and a MF insert. I did feel that the absorbency of this diaper was more than adequate for a newborn and would have held well had this diaper fit!

Fit: (2/5 Stars) :( Man, I wish I had chunky babies...another one bites the dust! Cloth diapering a skinny baby is HARD. If you have skinny babies or anticipate a skinny baby, I would recommend steering clear of this diaper! Of all the newborn diapers we tried, this one had BY FAR the largest gaps around the legs. I could have fit two of Baby J's legs in one opening! I put this diaper on him when he was a week old, took a pic, and had to take it right back off! There is no way that it would have contained even one drop of poop! I tried this diaper on him again as we got to 8-8 1/2 pounds and most of his CDs started to fit....NOPE! This one was still HUGE around the legs, so it came right back off again! This diaper is only supposed to fit 5-10 pounds...Baby J was over 10 (almost 11) pounds before the leg openings fit his legs better...and they still were not tight enough to contain EBF poop. :( So this diaper was just a complete flop for us! This diaper does feature a cross over snap option around the waist which is perfect for skinny waisted babies!! This is something I wish the Fuzzibunz had! But if your baby has skinny legs, the waist will not matter! This diaper does have a nice lower rise, so this diaper would fit well under the cord stump before it falls off!

Ease of Use: (4/5 Stars) This is a very simple to use diaper! It is a pocket, so you simply stuff the insert in and unstuff to wash! Very easy! Putting on baby with the snaps is very easy as well! This diaper also offers a front stuff pocket which is nice for many reasons. One, this keeps inserts and linings from accidentally sticking out the back and causing leaks. Two, this diaper is designed as a "hybrid" diaper meaning you can lay the insert in the front tab and use this diaper as a cover instead of a pocket (never put MF next to skin!). This diaper does offer ease of use and a ton of options for use!

Washing: (4/5 Stars) This diaper washes very well! Just like the Fuzzibunz, the soft fleece inner releases stains and poop easily and washes perfectly! Washing is easy! Just a quick unstuff, toss in washer, toss in dryer, stuff, and back on baby! My only complaint is the front stuff diaper. Many times this part of the diaper is the dirtiest, so if you are not one for touching poop, this may not be the diaper for you! Personally, this didn't bother me, but I do find stuffing front stuff diapers to be awkward...just something to get used to!Overall Performance: (3/5 Stars) I hoped this would be a success for us! The crossover waist tabs and snaps was something that I was very excited about. Since Miss A was quite skinny, I knew to expect Baby J to be skinny! But those leg gaps just SHOCKED me! They were just SO huge and made this diaper next to impossible for us to use! :( If you have chunky babies, this would be a great dipe! But if you made skinny babies or this is your first, I would maybe wait to buy if you want to use Charlie Bananas. Or buy the smalls since they start at 7 pounds and fit to 18 pounds...this would fit longer. You run the risk that they may not fit at birth, but you would at least get your money out of them! ;)Total Stars: 19/30